Bits of Me are Falling Apart
by William Leith
Bloomsbury, HK$159
William Leith's consciousness of the world - a sublime alignment of brilliantly bold, broad strokes - has been hewn by 25 years of highbrow journalism, during which the British author mused on subjects as disparate as English obituary writers and Palestinian tensions.
Always eloquent, his prose could also be unforgettable. He first ventured into the literary arena with his memoir, The Hungry Years: Confessions of a Food Addict (2005), regarded as one of the finest meditations on gluttony ever written. The compensatory nature of over-consumption remains one of the great themes of Leith's life and also informs his new book, Bits of Me Are Falling Apart: Dark Thoughts From the Middle Years, a memoir of separation.
'I wake up, middle-aged and cranky, on an old mattress,' he begins, 47 at the time of writing the book. 'Half of my life has gone. I piece the facts together. I'm on an old mattress because I'm sleeping in my office ... I always sleep in my office because my office is my home. My office is my home because my relationship has broken up.'